Science and Nature
The theme of science versus nature pervades the entire story. Hawthorne explores this theme through the character of Aylmer, in particular, who epitomizes the man of science in many ways. Aylmer's God complex seems to stem from his knowledge of science, in fact, since he repeatedly talks about all the unheard of powers he has because of this.
Georgiana, on the other hand, is a distinctly natural force in the story. She is naive to the science of her husband and is happy to leave nature well enough alone, as observed when he asks her to pluck a beautiful flower: "'It is magical!' cried Georgiana. 'I dare not touch it'" (425). Georgiana's inevitable demise from her vulnerability to Aylmer's science is ultimately a statement on Nature's helplessness against Man's incessant need to wreak destruction upon it in an attempt to control it. The statement Hawthorne makes is not that science is inherently bad. Instead, his point seems to be that without a balance between science and nature, disaster is inevitable. In the words of Barbara Eckstein: "Science is not unequivocally evil; it is, however, dangerous in isolation from human society's other influences, including sexuality, work of all kinds, and familial relations. It is dangerous in the speed with which it progresses, an incredible pace far outrunning the cumbersome gait of social and moral change." (517)
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"Aylmer's scientific Mind controls
Georgiana's passive Nature." (Eckstein 516) |